Why do fewer Hollywood villains speak with RP accents these days? Are the yanks not afraid of us anymore?

19 comments

1. The wot m8?

2. Whoever cast Jeremy Irons as Scar was a genius, I just gotta say. He nails it.

3. we have real villains with that accent now

4. Because all the RP actors now put on an American accent and take the main lead roles.

5. I like the shows that cast posh southerners as the bad guys and northerners as downtrodden good guys. Like Game Of Thrones, and Three Body Problem.

6. They have moved on to the Danish

7. Ian mckellen played magneto with an American accent

8. Are there even iconic villains any more? Can’t think of a recent one!

9. Memories of the empire were fresher back then, the blood hadn’t fully dried.

10. Paint with a broad brush there

11. I think they still keep the disability / different loof trope though!

12. You have to choose who your villains are based on who it’s acceptable to have people dislike, or believe you dislike.

    Posh Brits have been a safe bet for a long while.

    Lethal weapon 2 had Joss Ackland playing a South African just as Apartheid became a real global issue etc.

    It’s why you don’t see oriental villains in Hollywood now, because films are often funded by China, so it’s not ok to dislike the far East.

    So Eastern Europeans became popular

13. Not after Boris Johnson, no

14. I blame Tom Hiddleston and loki

15. Decline in theatre trained actors maybe?

16. Dick Dastardly – based on British actor Terry Thomas.
    I loved his arch villainous lascivious and very camp style

17. Reminds me of that brilliant segment on QI where they discuss the “high Octane” villain in Hollywood: a English villain playing a German villain.

    https://youtu.be/Pc3OyvbJkj4?si=7ZiRkhqSF6nA4ZJw

    Edit: link.

18. Honest legit answer Harry Potter changed perceptions

19. Cumbersnatch as Khan tho’.

    “Jonathan Romney of The Independent specifically noted Cumberbatch’s voice saying it was “So sepulchrally resonant that it could have been synthesised from the combined timbres of Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Alan Rickman holding an elocution contest down a well.”